Senate budget could severely weaken higher education

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 2:00pm

Arizona State University has taken more than its fair share of funding cuts to help the state meet its budget deficit. The total cut to ASU so far has been $110 million or 25% of our state appropriation. We have been preparing to take an additional $70 million cut since the governor announced her budget some time ago. Now the Senate has passed a cut of $106.7 million to ASU, which would result in the loss of another 25% of our state funding and set us back to the per-student funding rate of the 1960s (as shown in this graph).

During the last decade, few universities in the country have made the progress ASU has made in academic programs and research and even fewer have been as dedicated to their public service mission as we have been. The Senate's proposed budget cuts will not only set ASU back decades in terms of per-student state funding, but they will also set Arizona's economic recovery back years because ASU is one of the state's most important economic drivers.

If you are concerned about the serious, negative impact of these dramatic budget reductions, I urge you to contact the Arizona State Legislature.